


Ashes and Soot, Clean and Shaken

by orphan_account



Category: DRAMAtical Murder
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 08:13:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/923974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nightmares do not plague Mink alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ashes and Soot, Clean and Shaken

"Aoba..."

_That voice._

"Aoba...help."

_Help...with what?_

A feeling of warmth cracked around him, a sensation of blades of grass bending in the wind. Where was he? This..was a dream, right?

"AOBA!"

"MINK!"

Aoba's eyes flashed open, the crackling of fire filling his ears as he took in the sight of a burning meadow. The flames licked higher into the air, around shapes of buildings, of people as black as shadows. No definition remained in their bodies, their faces. Just figures, running, frantic, every last one of them on fire.

Aoba's breath caught in his throat as fear rose in his stomach, he wanted to scream out again, yell that name again. Mink had called his name, at first it had been gentle, but before he had awoke in this nightmare there was a shrill fear in it.

He'd never heard that before.

It rang in his ears as he stood frozen in the field. He couldn't remember even climbing to his feet, his vision had never changed. He could hear more screams but the pounding of his heart drowned them out. The only sound that mattered wasn't there anymore.

_Mink._

"Ao...ba.."

Turning around, his hair whipped through the ash-laden air, looking for the source of the voice. It was in pain, _he_  was in pain. There was no time to figure out why or how they had ended up here again, only where he was.

And if he could even help.

His feet were suddenly freed as he began to dash into the flames, ears open as the heat stung at his eyes and skin. Tears began to form and slide across his cheeks, cleaning them momentarily from the soot that began to cloak him, turning him as ashen as the rest of the figures in this flame-riddled world.

Still he pushed on, attempting to call out to the man he was so desperately trying to save.

"...-!"

However, every time he tried to call for his name he began to choke, smoke filling his lungs and making it that much harder for him to keep going. In the distance between the screams of those he knew must have been close to Mink at one time he could hear moans, lower than the others, more afraid.

Confusion was filling his thoughts to the brim as he kept going, throwing himself through flames and silhouetted buildings, around shadows and over them. Until the realization hit Aoba, hard.

Mink was the only real thing here.

That's why he was terrified.

That's why he couldn't find him.

Stopping inside a house he had found himself in, it crumbled around him, revealing a figure--more defined than the others--laying upon the ground in front of him.

_Mink._

Scrambling to get to him Aoba reached out, grabbing his hands to pull him up, only to let go the moment he did so. His hands were cold enough to burn.

_No-_

Suddenly everything blazed white-hot around him, before it all disappeared. The only thing he could see was blackened grass for miles, the sky appearing only to be endless void. The quiet sounds of his own crying filled the space, echoing in the nothingness.

Then, turning quietly he came face-to-face with quiet amber eyes.

"You should have let me die."

/

"Aoba!"

A cry rang out in the middle of the night, strangled and terrified as the man who made it fought the arms of his lover around him.

"Aoba calm down!"

Tears poured from Aoba's eyes, his own sobbing shaking his thin frame. Mink pulled him close, desperately trying to hold him together any way he knew how. It was taking longer than it should for him to come back to earth, to realize where he was, who he was beside.

Turning wide eyes to Mink's face, the man looking worriedly down at him, never having seen him so afraid.

"Aob-"

Aoba's hands flew up, tears dripping from his face and onto Mink's chest as he began to feel over his face. Then his shoulders and arms, slowly gripping his hands and then going back to his face, thumbs resting on his cheeks. Silence filling the air until Aoba finally found his voice, weak and trembling.

"Did you want to live?"

"What?"

" _DID YOU WANT TO LIVE?_ " Aoba's voice was shrill, emotional. He couldn't hold himself together, every inch of him was tearing apart, he needed to hear it from Mink. From the real Mink, that this was how he felt. He was shaking even harder now, he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Yes!" Mink said, his own voice choking from being forced so suddenly. He was quiet for a moment as Aoba stared at him, trust in him wavering. "Yes...I wanted to live. From the moment you told me I was alive."

After a moment, Aoba slowly gave a nod, accepting this and slumping against Mink in exhaustion. Little by little he was calming down, clinging to Mink's chest as Mink moved his fingers through his hair, helping the process. Both thoroughly shaken, Mink let them slide down more into the bed, hoping his arms were enough to ensure that he was there, and that he had always wanted to be there.

Finally, closing his eyes he let his head fall forward, kissing Aoba's hair softly. As if in response, a soft voice came from under all of that blue.

"I-I'm...so glad you're alive."


End file.
